Antonio Segni
| birth_place = Sassari, Sardinia, Kingdom of Italy | death_date = | death_place = Rome, Latium, Italy | spouse = ; his death | party = Christian Democracy | order1 = Prime Minister of Italy | term_start1 = 15 February 1959 | term_end1 = 25 March 1960 | president1 = Giovanni Gronchi | predecessor1 = Amintore Fanfani | successor1 = Fernando Tambroni | term_start2 = 6 July 1955 | term_end2 = 19 May 1957 | president2 = Giovanni Gronchi | deputy2 = Giuseppe Saragat | predecessor2 = Mario Scelba | successor2 = Adone Zoli | order3 = Deputy Prime Minister of Italy | primeminister3 = Amintore Fanfani | term_start3 = 1 July 1958 | term_end3 = 15 February 1959 | successor3 = Attilio Piccioni | predecessor3 = Giuseppe Pella | order4 = Minister of Foreign Affairs | primeminister4 = Fernando Tambroni Amintore Fanfani | term_start4 = 25 March 1960 | term_end4 = 7 May 1962 | predecessor4 = Giuseppe Pella | successor4 = Amintore Fanfani | order5 = Minister of the Interior | primeminister5 = Himself | term_start5 = 15 February 1959 | term_end5 = 25 March 1960 | predecessor5 = Fernando Tambroni | successor5 = Giuseppe Spataro | order6 = Minister of Defence | primeminister6 = Amintore Fanfani | term_start6 = 1 July 1958 | term_end6 = 15 February 1959 | predecessor6 = Paolo Emilio Taviani | successor6 = Giulio Andreotti | order7 = Minister of Education | primeminister7 = Giuseppe Pella | term_start7 = 17 August 1953 | term_end7 = 18 January 1954 | predecessor7 = Giovanni Bettiol | successor7 = Egidio Tosato | primeminister8 = Alcide De Gasperi | term_start8 = 26 July 1951 | term_end8 = 16 July 1953 | predecessor8 = Guido Gonella | successor8 = Giovanni Bettiol | order9 = Minister of Agriculture | primeminister9 = Alcide De Gasperi | term_start9 = 13 July 1946 | term_end9 = 26 July 1951 | predecessor9 = Fausto Gullo | successor9 = Amintore Fanfani | signature = Antonio Segni signature.svg }} Antonio Segni ( ; 2 February 1891 – 1 December 1972) was an Italian politician who was the 34th Prime Minister of Italy (1955–1957, 1959–1960), and the fourth President of Italy from 1962 to 1964. Adhering to the centrist Christian Democratic party (Italian: Democrazia Cristiana – DC), he was the first Sardinian ever to become Prime Minister of Italy. Biography The son of a Sardinian landowning family, born in Sassari, Sardinia, he studied to become a lawyer with a degree in agricultural and commercial law. Segni joined the Italian People's Party ( ) – the predecessor of the Christian Democratic Party – in 1919. In 1924 he was a member of the party’s national council, until all political organizations were dissolved by Benito Mussolini two years later in 1926. For the next 17 years Segni taught Agrarian Law at the Universities of Pavia, Perugia, and Cagliari; he was also rector of Sassari University. In 1943 Segni was one of the organizers of the new Christian Democratic Party in Sardinia. He held ministerial positions in many Christian Democrat governments from 1944 onward, despite his frail physique. Time Magazine once quoted a friend: "He is like the Colosseum; he looks like a ruin but he'll be around for a long time." In 1946, he was elected to the Constituent Assembly after World War II and then to parliament in 1948. In Government in August 1959]] Segni made his reputation as Minister of Agriculture (1946–1951) under Alcide de Gasperi. He favoured land reform legislation and ordered the expropriation of most of his own estate in Sardinia. He became known as a "white Bolshevik" for his agrarian reforms. Modern historians assert that landowners were favored by Segni, however, and his decrees allowed them to reclaim land which had been granted to the peasantry by the preceding administration.Ginsborg, Paul (2003). A History of Contemporary Italy: Society and Politics, 1943-1988, Palgrave Macmillan, p. 122 He became Prime Minister in 1955, succeeding Mario Scelba. During Segni’s government the treaties instituting the European Economic Community (EEC) were signed on 25 March 1957, and Italy co-founded the community. In March 1959, he became Prime Minister again, succeeding Amintore Fanfani, in whose government he had been Minister of Defense. In social policy, various reforms in social welfare were carried out. A law of 21 March 1959 extended insurance against occupational diseases to agricultural workers (for 7 diseases). A law of 17 May 1959 introduced a special additional indemnity for retired civil servants; a monthly supplement, indexed to the cost of living. A law of 4 July 1959 extended pension insurance to artisans.Growth to Limits: The Western European Welfare States Since World War II Volume 4 edited by Peter Flora President Segni was elected President of the Italian Republic on 6 May 1962 (854 to 443 votes). He suffered a serious cerebral hemorrhage while working at the presidential palace on 7 August 1964. At the time he was 73 years old and the first prognosis was not positive. He only partially recovered, and he retired from office on 6 December 1964. In the interim, the President of the Senate Cesare Merzagora served as acting president. Politically, Segni was a moderate conservative opposed to "opening to the centre-left" enabling coalition governments between the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) and the Christian Democrats. Segni was later accused of having tried to instigate a coup d'état (known as Piano Solo) along with General Giovanni De Lorenzo during his presidency to frustrate the opening to the left. Segni was also a professor of law at University of Sassari. Straightforward, witty and courteous, Segni was more at ease in the classroom or the law court than in the back rooms of Italian politics. He died on 1 December 1972 in Rome, at the age of 81. The frail, often ailing Segni, was affectionately called malato di ferro—"the invalid with the iron constitution". Personal life In 1921, Segni married Laura Carta Camprino (18 April 1896 – 21 July 1977) and had four sons, Celestino (1926–1987), Giuseppe (born 1928), Paolo (born 1931) and Mariotto (born 1939). Segni's son, Mariotto Segni, is also a prominent Italian politician. References * Marcus, George E. (1999). ‘’Paranoia Within Reason: A Casebook on Conspiracy as Explanation'’, Chicago: University of Chicago Press External links * President Antonio Segni, Italian Chamber of Deputies * Political factors related to the illness of Italian President Antonio Segni, declassified CIA document dated 14 August 1964 * Category:1891 births Category:1972 deaths Category:People from Sassari Category:Italian Roman Catholics Category:Italian People's Party (1919) politicians Category:Christian Democracy (Italy) politicians Category:Presidents of Italy Category:Prime Ministers of Italy Category:Deputy Prime Ministers of Italy Category:Foreign ministers of Italy Category:Italian Ministers of the Interior Category:Italian Ministers of Defence Category:Agriculture ministers of Italy Category:Education ministers of Italy Category:Members of the Consulta Nazionale Category:Members of the Constituent Assembly of Italy Category:Deputies of Legislature I of Italy Category:Deputies of Legislature II of Italy Category:Deputies of Legislature III of Italy Category:Italian Life Senators Category:Politicians of Sardinia Category:Grand Crosses 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Category:Italian anti-communists